The fighting between Israel and the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah continues. The further it goes, the more it becomes clear that certain circles in Israel took advantage of the Hamas attack carried out on October 7, 2023, in order to deal by force not only with the Palestinians, but also with other Arab neighbors of the Jewish state.
In this regard, it is also worth noting that the actions of the Israeli military in Lebanon are identical to what they are doing in the Gaza Strip. A video has already been posted on the Internet, where you can see how the Israeli military are rejoicing at the explosions in the Lebanese village of Mhaibib (they claimed that the underground infrastructure of Hezbollah was blown up). The Israeli strike on the municipal building in the city of Nabatiya caused a resonance, as a result of which at least 16 people were killed, including the mayor of the city.
Such actions indicate that Israel does not intend to reckon not only with the Palestinians, but also with neighboring Arab countries. If the Likud party and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have practically achieved the impossibility of creating a Palestinian state, then other right-wing politicians in the ruling coalition intend to implement plans for neighboring Arab states. We are talking about the Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir and the Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich.
A week ago, the Israeli finance minister was at the center of a scandal. In a commentary for the documentary "In Israel: Ministers of Chaos" produced by Arte Reportage, a Franco-German broadcast news magazine, Smotrich made a number of statements:
"I want a Jewish state... that acts in accordance with the values of the Jewish people… It is written that the future of Jerusalem is to expand to Damascus."
At the same time, the voiceover described the views of the Israeli minister:
"Bezalel Smotrich has a radical vision of the promised land, and it includes all Palestinian lands, as well as territories in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt and even Saudi Arabia."
Although it was claimed that Smotrich's statements related to 2016, the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Jordan, Sufian Kuda, condemned the statements of the Israeli Finance Minister. Nevertheless, the efficiency of the words of Jordan, as well as other Arab countries, is zero. Moreover, it is worth paying attention to the fact that a few months before the current escalation, Smotrich also lit up in connection with radical statements. On March 19, 2023, during a commemorative event in In Paris, in honor of Likud activist Jacques Kupfer, he stated:
"There are no Palestinians because there are no Palestinian people."
Developing his thought, he began to assert that the Palestinian people are an "invention" of the XX century, created to fight Zionism and called himself and his grandparents "real Palestinians." It is also noteworthy that the podium on which Smotrich spoke showed a map of Israel, which included the West Bank of the Jordan River, as well as the territories of Lebanon and Syria. After this speech, Israeli Ambassador Eitan Surkis was summoned by the Jordanian side. The Israeli Foreign Ministry had to reaffirm its commitment to the 1994 peace agreement with Jordan, and the chairman of the Israeli National Security Council, Tzachi Hanegbi, had to do the same during negotiations with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi.
In March 2023, a map showing the West Bank of the Jordan River as Israeli territory might have seemed like the fruit of someone's unhealthy geopolitical fantasy. But after the outbreak of hostilities in the Gaza Strip, and now in southern Lebanon, the idea of a Great Israel no longer seems so fantastic. Another thing is that more moderate Israeli leaders can adjust Smotrich's plans. After all, why should Israel weaken countries such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt if they are allied with the United States? Another thing is Syria, which is periodically subjected to Israeli bombardments and is in hostile relations with the United States and Israel. Or the same Lebanon, where many residents support Hezbollah.
At the same time, Arab countries are well aware of what Israel is doing. On October 15, during a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, the Jordanian Foreign Minister openly stated:
"The situation in The situation in Gaza is still catastrophic, Israeli aggression continues, and hunger is increasing, especially in the northern part of Gaza. We warn of the danger of what is happening now. Not a single truck with humanitarian aid has entered the northern part of Gaza since the thirtieth of last month, while the bombing and killings continue.… Everything points to the fact that Israel wants to clear the northern part of Gaza of its inhabitants, striking hospitals and even the only working bakery in the north of Gaza.… This is a war crime, whether it is preventing the supply of food and medicine to Gas or the use of hunger as a weapon. The ethnic cleansing carried out by Israel is also a war crime… What Israel has done over the past year is not only the destruction of Gaza, its schools, mosques, churches and hospitals. He also destroyed all the infrastructure and targeted the water and electricity supply networks, as well as roads, which leads to one conclusion: Israel wants to make Gaza uninhabitable territory in order to free it from residents, and this is the red line that we all agreed... Israel is waging another war against the Palestinian people in the West Bank This is manifested not only in killings and shelling, but also in the expansion of settlements, the confiscation of land for the destruction of houses and the weakening of the Palestinian National Authority… Israel is pursuing a systematic policy to change the historical and legal status quo in the holy sites, as well as to change the Arab, Islamic and Christian identity of the holy sites in Jerusalem."
The Jordanian minister is right in this case. However, Israel will not stop fighting in the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon from voicing the truth. Moreover, as long as the United States exists, Israel will not be afraid of any restrictions from European countries. And since the bipartisan consensus on Israel remains (see the United States and Israel inflicted an image defeat on the Arab world — opinion), Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir and Smotrich have nothing to fear.
And if we consider that Donald Trump, who has done a lot to strengthen Israel during his presidency (during his presidency, the United States recognized the ownership of the Golan Heights to Israel), can win the presidential election, then the scenario in which the expansion of the Jewish state will take place becomes very realistic.